Roan didn't seem to be that happy, though.
"What if we're found? The altar is gone. Surely it should have set some alarms, no?"
Everyone then looked at the place where the first guys appeared, waiting to see if there was any movement. However, even as time passed, not a single soul seemed to be coming inside.
"I wonder, is there no one coming because they don't know what happened to the altar or because of the rule of only one Zasfin entering each time?"
Agis shook his head before looking at the passages.
"Forget it! Let's go before those doors decide to close on us."
Rean agreed with him, saying.
"Since no one's coming, we can only do that. But... which door should we choose?"
Roan pondered for a bit before saying.
"That guy who came in first probably had a higher level of Soul Power even though he was older. Frandin said that he was definitely a member of some big clan due to his clothes. That being said, we can conclude that the door that opened to him was relative to his own talent."
Qia pondered over Roan's words for a bit before saying.
"That might be the case. Or it might not be. They're all the same, after all."
Malaka didn't care, though.
"Let's just enter already. If Roan's right, then the more leftward the door is, then one's talent is considered higher. In that case, let's take the easiest one on the right side. It's that simple."
Malaka's words had some logic in them, even though she was just bored with all the waiting.
However, Calina shook her head right after, saying.
"No. If Roan's right and the left doors are harder, then we should take those."
"Why?"
Calina then pointed at the door where the first guy entered.
"Do you remember that he was quite displeased with his door? That might be because he wanted those on the leftmost portions to open. I might be wrong, but there might be small differences between Rank Five Bloodline Marks. The harder the test you pass through, the better the mark... or so I think."
Rean understood where Calina was coming from.
"I see... We did comment in the past how weird the division of boost between Bloodline Marks was. Rank 1 being 10%, Rank 2 being 20%, and Rank 3 being 40%. And then, it suddenly jumps to 70% instead of 80%. Frandin didn't know why that was the case either. Perhaps the higher-ranked Bloodline Marks have differences between them."
Agis quite liked the idea.
"Let's take the leftmost one then. Besides, we weren't planning to enter a Rank Five Bloodline Trial to start with. If we fail, we can use the Circuitry Teleport Formation to try some other Bloodline Trial later."
Eventually, everyone agreed with the idea, and they proceeded with the leftmost door. The only doubt was whether it would try to block their passage or not. However, nothing happened in the end. Everyone passed through the door without any issue, including Kentucky.
Soon, the door behind them closed, starting their own Trial.
Rean's group then continued for a few hundreds of meters while they seemed to be heading further down into the earth. After some time, they arrived in a chamber that glowed with the same faint blue light as the altar. Roan took the lead and opened the chamber to see what was inside. However, what they found inside left them shocked!
"This..."
"How could this be...?"
"Aren't they..."
Right in front of them, there were humans, lots of them! However, their situation was quite peculiar. They were all affixed to the wall. The weirdest part was that they weren't locked by chains or anything like that. Instead, it wouldn't be wrong to say that their limbs had fused with the walls themselves, leaving only the rest of their bodies outside.
They were all nude as well, both men and women. In front of each one of them was some kind of diagram on the ground. Not only that, but you could also see it on their foreheads. Last but not least, all of them seemed to be in a deep sleep at the moment.
Rean approached a woman by his side before sending his Light Element and Spiritual Sense inside her body.
"They... are fine. There are no injuries whatsoever. However, the seal on her forehead is preventing this girl from waking up. The others should be in a similar condition as well."
The girls couldn't help but feel disgusted by that.
"Just how could they do this to them? This is sick!"
Roan, on the other hand, only cared about the reason for this existence.
"Weird... What could humans possibly have to do with the Zasfins' Bloodline Marks."
His Spiritual Sense couldn't go very far, so he had to pass by each of these people to check their condition.
"It seems like their cultivations are all in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm at the moment."
Gradually, an idea began to form in Roan's mind. However, Rean was even faster than him.
"I might be wrong, but I believe their soul is what's used in the creation of the Bloodline Marks."
"What?!"
Calina and the others were taken aback.
Roan agreed with him.
"It seems like you had the same idea as me, huh?"
Rean nodded.
"That's the only option possible."
Qia immediately asked right after.
"But, how come they all have Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivations? Aren't humans supposed to be weak in this world?"
Rean already had an idea in mind. The reason for that was because each of these humans seemed to have bodies used to combat. They all had their own shares of life and death experiences in their lives. Without a doubt, they cultivated till their bones broke off up to this level.
"I think I know what's happening. However, it will be faster to understand if we wake one of them up and ask directly."
Roan agreed with Rean on that.
Rean then placed his hand on the woman's forehead and channeled Light Element inside. Following that, he also sent Roan's Dark Element.
'Life Style, Third Form, Purification!'
Rean's purification ability wasn't only good against poisons. That's because it used Roan's Dark Element to destroy all the harmful things to the body. That being said, nothing was stopping him from destroying those diagrams on their foreheads, even if they were fused with their bodies.
Rean carefully drove the two elements to the woman's head, making sure to protect her brain, eyes, etc., with his Light Element. After some time, he arrived at the core of the diagram. As far as Rean could see, it worked like some kind of seal. The problem was that it also utilized Soul Power, so he didn't know that much about it.
First, he enveloped the seal with his Light Element until no gaps were left behind. Only then did Roan's Dark Element make its way inside. However, as soon as he started that, the woman began to contort like a worm. It was obvious that she was suffering terrible pain even in her sleeping state.
"Rean, are you sure about what you're doing?"
Rean narrowed his eyes before saying.
"I'm protecting her brain, so it shouldn't be causing any damage to it at the moment. The only thing I can say is that this seal is also fused with her Soul. Unfortunately, that's not something I can protect. First of all, the Soul is too much of an abstract subject. It's not something I can feel with my Spiritual Sense or touch with my Light Element."
Rean then took his hand back once he retracted the Elements. The woman finally stopped struggling before returning to her deep sleep state.
"Is there nothing we can do for them?"
Rean shook his head as he replied.
"If it was only the seal, I could work on it. However, it uses Soul Power. Without Soul Power of my own, there's nothing I can do. Even if I did have Soul Power, I'm still unsure if there's something I could do about it either."
Calina and the others couldn't help but feel some pity for these people.
"Can we at least bring them with us? I don't want to leave them here."
Roan immediately shook his head as he answered.
"Out of the question. Can't you see? The whole issue of the Bloodline Trials hovers around these humans. It would be one thing if one disappeared, but it would be another if all of them were removed."
Rean nodded.
"Roan's right. Qia, get close to the wall and send your Spiritual Sense through it. You won't be able to reach more than a meter inside, but that will be enough for you to see a certain thing."
Qia was taken aback for a moment but nodded. Soon after, she did as Rean mentioned. Sure enough, she found what Rean was talking about.
"Sigh... Removing these people from here will be impossible. There is a linking formation behind each one of them. I'm not entirely sure how it works since there are Soul Runes as well. However, I'm sure that they are linked to the diagrams on their foreheads. It's also this formation that provides them with the supplements that their bodies need. In any case, if we remove them from here, I'm sure the diagram will kill them straight away."
Rean nodded.
"Seems like you've reached the same conclusion as me. These people are fated to stay in this place."
Roan, as always, didn't seem to care about such sentiments.
"Well, I might as well see how I could make a Bloodline Mark for myself, then."
Sure enough, everyone else was taken aback.
